Fountain pen



Sept. l2, 1933. H FOLK, JR A '1,926,405

\ FOUNTAIN` PEN Filed July 2o, 1931 IIIIIIIIIII/IA'III Patented Sept. 12, 1933 y UNNWED FOUNTAIN PEN erica EESWD Henry llllerndon Polli, Jr., Des Moines, Iowa Application ,lluly 2li, 19311. Serial No. 551,913

il Claim.,

My invention relates to that class of fountain pens in which ink or air contained within the pen barrel is expelled during the stroke of the plunger away from the pen, and a partial g vacuum is established in the barrel during the stroke oi the plunger toward the pen, and whereby the barrel is substantially i'llled with ink drawn into the ,parrel by the partial vacuum when the plunger reaches its limit of movement :lo toward the pen with a single movement of the plunger.

The object of my invention is to provide a fountain pen of this class of simple, durable and inexpensive construction, and of few parts,

More specically it is my object to provide a plunger ior pens of this character in which the ink or air contained within the barrel will be freely expelled during the stroke of the plunger away from the pen point, and at the very beginning of the movement of the plunger toward the pen the plunger will be tightly sealed to the pen barrel to. thereby create a maximum degree oi vacuum within the barrel during the stroke of the plunger toward the pen.

My invention consists in the construction, arrangement and combination of the various parts of the device, whereby the objects contemplated are attained, as hereinafter more fully set forth, pointed out in my claim, and illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure l shows a longitudinal sectional view ci' a fountain pen embodying my invention with the plunger shown at its limit of movement toward the pen point.

Figure 2 shows an enlarged detail sectional view of a portion of the pen barrel and the plunger in position therein.l The dotted lines show the position of the plunger disk during the discharge stroke of the plunger, and also the position of the plunger disk when moving `toward the pen point to create a partial vacuum within the barrel; and

Figure 3 shows an enlarged, detail, transverse, sectional view through the barrel at the point adjacent to which the plunger is situated when `at its limit of movement toward the pen.

Referring to the accompanying drawing, I have used the reference numeral 10 to indicate generally the pen barrel of usual construction, having a hollow cylindrical interior. At one end is the pen point 11, and at a point in the barrel near the pen point there are a number of grooves 12, shown in Figure 3, and whereby communication is established between the interior of the pen barrel and the pen point through a passage (El. 12d-m47) way such as 13 when the plunger is at its limit oi movement toward the pen barrel.

At the end of the barrel opposite the pen point is a packing 14, and slidingly extended through this packing is the plunger rod 151 A screw cap 6@ 16 is preferably provided for covering the handle end Vof the plunger.

The plunger proper comprises a sleeve 17 screwed on the end of the plunger rod adjacent to the pen point, and formed on this `sleeve is a plunger disk retaining member 18 of comparatively small diameter, and inclined outwardly and toward the pen point. Mounted upon this sleeve 17 is the plunger disk indicated generally by the numeral 19. rll"his disk is formed of a 7@ resilient and slightly compressible material, such for instance as rubber.

This plunger disk is normally dat and is made slightly larger in diameter than the interior of the barrel, so that when it is in its flat condi- 75, tion it presses tightly against the interior of the barrel. 1t may, however, be moved a slight degree to position shown by dotted lines at 23 in. Figure 2, and still maintain tight contact with the interior of the barrel. When, however, it is moved to position shown by the dotted lines 21 in Figure 2, its periphery stands clear of the barrel so that ink or air may pass by it.

Mounted upon the sleeve 17 is a disk holding plate 22 of a diameter slightly less than that of g5 the interior of the pen barrel, and having its face adjacent to the disk inclined slightlyin a ldirec-- tion away from the pen point.

This disk holding plate 22 is :fixed to the sleeve 17 so that it together with the part 18 forms a 90 means for clamping the central portion of the disk firmly in position.

In practical use, and assuming that there ls a small quantity of ink Within the barrel and it is desired to rell it, the operator rst removes the cap 16,1 then grasps the handleend of the plunger rod and moves it in a direction away from the pen point. During this movement the air and ink contained Within the barrel will press upon the plunger disk sulciently to cause i 1o( it to assume the position shown by the dotted lines 21, so that the air and ink may pass around the periphery of the plunger disk and be discharged through the passageway 13.

As soon as the plunger disk has reached its limit of movement away from the pen, then the v plunger disk, on account of its resiliency, will spring back to a lsubstantially ilat position with its periphery firmly in engagement withA the interior of the'barrel. Then at the instant when 110` the plunger is moved in a. direction toward the pen point, the plunger disk will form a tight connection with the interior of the barrel, and as the movement is continued, it will assume vthe position shown by. dotted lines 23 in Figure 2, and its periphery will be held iirmly in contact with the interior of the barrelthroughout the entire movement of the plunger toward the pen point, so that a maximum degree of vacuum will be created within the entire barrel. Then when the plunger disk reaches the grooves 12 in the barrel, and assuming that the pen point is inserted in ink, the ink will'be drawn into the pen point and the passageway 12 to approximately fill the barrel. v

Thus the complete operation of expelling the contents of the vbarrel is done `with one stroke of the plunger, and the complete operation of filling the barrel with ink is done with a single stroke of the plunger in the opposite direction.

The eillciency and practicability of a device `of this kind is dependent upon the amount of vacuum which maybe produced in the pen barrel upon a single stroke of the plunger toward the pen point, and hence it is lessential that at the very start of the plunger movement toward the pen point a tight connection is made between the plunger disk and the interior of the barrel.

I am'aware that for somewhat analogous purposes plungers have been employed containing cup shaped packings which will permit air or liquid to pass around them when moving inI one direction and form a tight connection with the interior of the barrel when being moved in the opposite direction, but with these cup shaped packings it is necessary to move them a greater or less distance before the cup shaped packing forms a tight joint with the interior of the barrel, and hence an attempt to emply a packing off'this character in a fountain pen would result in a considerably less amount of vacuum being produced, and hence .the pen barrel would be only partly filled during a single stroke of the plunger.

With my improvement, however, and by employing a normally disk shaped plunger disk,`the packing forms a tight connection with the barrel before and at the commencement of the stroke toward the pen point, and hence a maximum degree of vacuumis created during a single stroke of the plunger toward the pen point.

I claim as my invention:

An improved fountain' pen comprising a hollow cylindrical barrel, a pen at one end thereof, a groove formed on the interior of the barrel near the pen point, the pen being formed with a passageway communicating between said groove and the pen point, a plunger rod slidingly mounted in the end of the barrel opposite the pen point, a plunger on the plunger rod comprising a ilat disc formed of yielding resilient material of such diameter that when in position extending straight `v outwardly from the plunger rod it will be slightly under compression, and when the plunger rod is moved in either direction the friction of the plunger against the pen barrel will cause its outer portion to incline rearwardly relative to the direction in which the piston is moving, means secured to the piston rod on one side of the piston for limiting said inclining movement to such position that the piston retains contact with the pen barrel, and means secured to the piston rod at the opposite side of the piston for engaging the central portion of the piston but permitting said inclining movement to extend to such an amount as to permit the periphery of the piston to stand spaced apart from the pen barrel.

\ HENRY H. FOLK, JR. 

